Bastianini on first day at Ducati: “I thought I’d find more tension”
Bastianini, even after his promotion from Gresini to the factory team was assured, was eager to battle Francesco Bagnaia wheel-to-wheel.
At times in the closing rounds of last season, Bagnaia’s biggest threat to the MotoGP title appeared to be his future teammate.
Bastianini said about arriving at Ducati for the postseason Valencia test: "There is a good climate, it feels good.
“I thought I would find more tension and instead I immediately felt at ease and now I will leave for the first tests [in Sepang] and I will find out even better, but I'm really happy.”
Bastianini continued: "I had fun, the last few years have been very beautiful.
“In 2020 my first world title arrived, with Moto2. In 2021 I made my debut with MotoGP and in 2022 I managed to finish third in the championship: a good path of growth, I hope to continue like this.
“Now I'm in the factory team, so he'll have a bit more responsibility. Then they are used to it well, because Pecco won the title, but I will give 100% to try to do better and better."
Gigi Dall’Igna, general manager of Ducati Corse, added: "The secret? Ours is to have a group of people behind us who help us manage the team and our riders to go really fast on the bike.
“I must say that the credit goes to these incredible technicians, who are really wonderful people. The atmosphere at Ducati Corse is splendid, we all try to help each other and hide our flaws by bringing out the best in everyone.”
Paolo Ciabatti, sporting director, said about Bagnaia ending Ducati’s long wait for a MotoGP title: "It was a great satisfaction, especially for those who work at Ducati. We are very proud, we had come close many times in both MotoGP and Superbike and it seemed that something was always missing.
“To have succeeded for the first time in our history, 50 years after Giacomo Agostini, was truly special. But we are already looking forward to next season."
Davide Tardozzi, MotoGP Team Manager, added: "In the meantime we have the world champion.
"Enea has had a great season, I think we have two fast and, I want to emphasise, intelligent guys: they have already understood the spirit with which the tests are faced, then everyone will be free to do their own race, but surely the fact that they have talked a lot is fundamental.
“Even in Madonna di Campiglio they met sitting together, talking. Then it is clear that each knows he has to beat the other. As many have said, we will have a problem. But we want to have this problem. And I think two riders like that envy us all."
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
